A bill aiming to limit conversion therapy (or “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts”), the practice of trying to change an individual’s sexual orientation, passed the California Assembly on April 19, 2018. Citing reports from the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and various other medical organizations on the limited effectiveness and negative impact of conversion therapy, Assembly Bill 2943 would add “dvertising . . . or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual” to California’s list of prohibited deceptive business practices.

As reported by the Associated Press, California Assemblyman Evan Low, the bill’s author, stated that the issue was “very personal” to him. He explained, “this notion that we would accept as a legal practice that conversion therapy works is antithetical to my very existence in this body.”

Assemblyman Low rejected concerns that the bill would impede freedom of speech or religion, emphasizing that the bill would apply only to commercial practices and financial transactions. Under the bill, people are still free to discuss sexual orientation change in books or preach about it, but they cannot sell or advertise conversion therapy. Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, a Stockton Democrat, emphasized: “You can still try to pray the gay away if you'd like, but it hasn't proved to be effective.” She added, “to advertise that you can change someone’s orientation” is “fraudulent should not be occurring.”

California Already Bans Conversion Therapy For Minors

California, along with fewer than a dozen other states, currently bans conversion therapy for minors. SB 1172, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on September 30, 2012 and codified in Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 865, 865.1, and 865.2, prohibits state-licensed mental health providers from engaging in “sexual orientation change efforts” with patients under 18 years of age. The legislature’s stated purpose in enacting SB 1172 was to “protect protect[] its minors against exposure to serious harms caused by sexual orientation change efforts.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld SB 1172 against First Amendment and other constitutional challenges brought by conversion therapy practitioners and advocates, holding that SB 1172 applies “only within the confines of the counselor-client relationship” and thus does not unduly inhibit expressive or religious speech.

In addition to Washington state, which passed a ban on conversion therapy for minors that goes into effect on June 7, 2018, 11 states and the District of Columbia ban conversion therapy for minors. Twenty-three states currently have bills pending that seek to ban the practice for minors.